How Flixel doubled revenue on Black Friday

We recently published our guide to Black Friday discounts, based on all the software sales we’ve processed over the years. But whilst data is great, we also want to bring this to life with some practical examples: over the next few weeks we’ll be adding real life stories of what software businesses did for Black Friday - and the results they got out of it.

We start with Flixel, the award-winning makers of MacOS and iOS apps for creative professionals.

What did Flixel do during their Black Friday campaign?

Flixel went for a simple but effective discount: they offered a 30% discount on their products and pushed the campaign via a variety of channels, including ads on social media and direct email marketing.

They kept a consistent offer throughout the Black Friday period but made sure to build up urgency from their first email to their final email:

What can we learn?

A powerful visual: in this example it also showcases what Flixel’s software can create

“It’s our biggest sale of the year”: informs the reader that this is not a typical discount, triggering their fear of losing out if they wait too long

“Save 30% on a Flixel Cloud Membership”: right off the bat the offer specifies both the discount and the exact product licence, leaving no uncertainty

“Save 30%” and “Save $60” are both used - the psychology behind how we respond to numbers is pretty well documented: 30% shows it’s meaningful, whilst $60 makes it tangible (as opposed to 30% off a $1 app, or $60 off a $10,000 purchase)

“Sorry, quantities are limited”: another way to build up urgency. This one may or may not work depending on your audience, since it’s been used and abused over the years.

The final email in the campaign stays fairly similar to the first one, with a couple of tweaks:

The header image is different: using the same twice may have made people think they’d already seen it, and therefore would stop them from reading further

“Our biggest sale of the year is about to end”: reiterates the uniqueness of the discount, and building up urgency

The large discount on offer was clearly attractive to buyers, which is especially interesting as Flixel mostly sells to professionals and companies. This is a good example of a successful B2B Black Friday campaign, proving that discounts are not reserved to consumers.

Useful? Stay tuned for more Black Friday and Cyber Monday insights throughout October and November. Simply subscribe to our newsletter to receive all of it in one neat email.

About Flixel - magical tools for digital storytellers

Professional photographers, videographers and digital marketers use Cinemagraph Pro on iOS and Mac to create cinemagraphs, a visually spectacular blend between still photographs and short movies.

Flixel’s software has received a highly coveted Apple Design Award and is now used as an essential tool by small teams and agencies as well as multi-national organisations such as Facebook, HBO, Ikea and Mercedes-Benz.

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